The loss of 25 points drops Keselowski from second in the standings to fourth, 34 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson and 31 points ahead of 11th-place Matt Kenseth.

Logano drops from ninth in the standings to 14th. Instead of being three points ahead of 11th, he is now 22 points behind 10th, the cutoff spot for an automatic bid to the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Penske Racing will appeal the decision, and NASCAR will defer the suspensions until the appeal is decided, allowing the crew chiefs and others facing suspension to be at Kansas Speedway this weekend. No appeal date has been set.

“Penske Racing will appeal utilizing the appropriate NASCAR process,” the team said in a statement. “We have no further comment at this time."

In addition to the suspensions to Wolfe and Gordon, also suspended were Penske competition director Travis Geisler, Keselowski car chief Jerry Kelley and Keselowski engineer Brian Wilson. Gone from Logano’s team are car chief Raymond Fox and engineer Samuel Stanley. All of those suspended also were placed on probation through Dec. 31.

“Penske Racing has a lot of depth inside the company and we can make adjustments to make sure we still run well,” Logano told Speed. “I think it goes to show, we made some adjustments before the race started and we still were able to come home with a top-five finish (at Texas).”

According to NASCAR, the teams violated rules involving the rear suspensions, including:

• All suspension parts, systems, components and their assembly must be approved prior to competition.

• All suspension mounts and mounting hardware must not allow movement or realignment of any suspension component beyond normal rotation or suspension travel.

• All suspension fasteners and mounting hardware must be made of solid magnetic steel and must have single round mounting holes that are the correct size for the fasteners being used.

NASCAR confiscated the rear-end housing and various parts and pieces from the Penske teams prior to the NRA 500 on Saturday, and from the decision Wednesday, it appears that Penske had devised a system to make it easier for the cars to turn by having the suspension move or rotate a certain way.

Keselowski’s team made it to the starting grid on time Saturday but Logano had to start at the rear of the field for being late as his car was just being rolled onto pit lane moments before the command to start engines.

Logano finished fifth and Keselowski finished ninth in the race, after which Keselowski said his team had been targeted by NASCAR officials.

“There’s so much stuff going on, you guys have no idea — you have no (expletive) idea what’s going on,” Keselowski said. “I can tell you there is no team in this garage with the integrity of the 2 team.

“The way we’ve been treated over the last seven days is absolute shameful. I feel like we’ve been targeted over the last seven days more than I’ve ever seen a team targeted in my life. My guys keep their heads on straight and they showcased why they’re a winning team and a championship team.”

His team owner didn’t appear to share that frustration.

“NASCAR has a job to do,” team owner Penske said Saturday night. “We’re competitors. Obviously we’re trying to get an edge on the competition, so our guys are thinking and working hard.

“(NASCAR) didn’t like what they saw in inspection. They made us take it out. You saw how well we ran without it.”

NASCAR sometimes takes part and pieces, evaluates them and then determines if they fit within the rules. This was obviously, by the size of the penalty, something that NASCAR considered blatant.

The Penske teams will appeal to a three-member board and ask NASCAR to defer the suspensions pending the appeal. If the appeal is denied by the three-member board, Penske can make one last appeal to the sport’s chief appellate officer.

“Whatever NASCAR does we have to do deal with it and move on,” Penske said Saturday. “Our guys are innovative. We’re looking at the rules, looking for areas that we can maybe get an edge on like everybody else is.